Shloka 97
Daṇḍanīti and the King as the Cause of Yuga-Order (दण्डनीतिः राजधर्मश्च युगकारणत्वम्)
रसा: सर्वे क्षयं यान्ति यदा नेच्छति भूमिप: । प्रजा: संरक्षितुं सम्यग् दण्डनीतिसमाहित:,जब राजा दण्डनीतिमें प्रतिष्ठित होकर प्रजाकी भली-भाँति रक्षा करना नहीं चाहता है, उस समय इस पृथ्वीके सारे रस ही नष्ट हो जाते हैं
rasāḥ sarve kṣayaṃ yānti yadā necchati bhūmipaḥ | prajāḥ saṃrakṣituṃ samyag daṇḍanīti-samāhitaḥ ||
Dijo Bhīṣma: Cuando un rey, aun estando establecido en la ciencia del castigo y del gobierno (daṇḍanīti), no desea de veras proteger debidamente a sus súbditos, entonces todos los “jugos” vitales de la tierra—su prosperidad, su fertilidad y los recursos que sostienen la vida—se agotan y se pierden.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Kingship is justified by protection. Even if a ruler possesses daṇḍanīti (administrative and punitive power), without the sincere will to safeguard subjects, the realm’s prosperity and the earth’s sustaining resources decline—an ethical warning that authority must serve welfare (rakṣaṇa) to uphold dharma.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on rajadharma, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira about the duties of a ruler. Here he states a consequence of negligent governance: when a king fails to protect the people, the kingdom’s prosperity withers, symbolized as the ‘rasas’ of the earth perishing.